Why Ten Fish?
As a middle school math teacher, I soon realized that some of my students struggled with math because they were missing foundational skills that should have been mastered at an earlier grade level. One of those skills was the ability to make tens.
What is making ten and why is it important?
Since we use a base 10 number system, the concept of ten-ness can be thought of as the foundation of place value. When students are able to compose and decompose numbers into tens, they can better manipulate numbers mentally (for example, 6+4=10 and so does 7+3 and 2+3+5). It does not matter how large or small the number, they can still apply this concept of making ten. Making tens also aids in the ability to “carry” or “borrow'' when adding or subtracting multi-digit numbers.
Making tens can contribute to a student’s ability to perform mental math. Some of the reasons mental math skills are important:
Enhances children’s ability to concentrate.
It stimulates children’s interest in math.
Improves the self-confidence of the child.
Helps with math application skills (such as estimating).
Helps to reduce mistakes in problem-solving.
Strongly associated with better memory skills.
It stimulates both sides of the brain.
Frees up working memory for new higher-level learning.
As students develop mental math proficiencies, they complete math assignments faster, their confidence increases, and their overall understanding of number, operation, and algebraic thinking improve.
One effective tool to assist children in making tens is the ten frame. Ten frames help learners visualize the smaller numbers inside a larger number. This makes it easier to compose and decompose the number. A ten-frame helps students visually move objects (like fish 🙂) in order to make problems easier to work with.
Playing Ten Fish provides the opportunity for learners to get the repetitive practice they need to become proficient at making tens in a fun and interactive way with the built-in visual support of ten frames.
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